October 21, 2009

Vintage Crush: Neil Young

As a wee punk rock girl in the early '90s, I mainly hung with older music-geek-dudes who knew everything there is to know about good music. And even though many of these lads were punk purists, they all respected and bowed to he who would eventually become the grandaddy of grunge, Mr. Neil Young. Not to mention that Thurston Moore, who held probably the most indie-cred during that era, frequently mentioned the genius of Neil during interviews, as did Kurt Cobain. So I bought Harvest, but as a Dead Kennedy's worshipping teen, had a hard time digging his falsetto warble and Freedom Rock-on-smack vibe, so I shelved it, to be re-experienced at a later date. Flash-forward some years later, when I hit my 20s, and could finally understand the complexity of his sound, his purposefully vulnerable vocal style, intensely passionate (and frequently heart-wrenching) lyrics, and let's not forget about his bitchin' style. So after I had finally opened my ears and accepted the gospel of Neil into my life, I purchased After the Gold Rush, and the development of a serious crush was inevitable.

Here is a favorite Neil performance, from a BBC performance in 1971, where he performed songs off of the LP After the Gold Rush for the very first time, live. This is also one of my all-time favorite songs. Enjoy!